Craft ideas for preschoolers

[~*max*~]

Hi mamas. Welcome back to the boards! I am looking for some suggestions for crafts/art projects to do w/my 2 & 4 year olds. With the cold weather we have been experiencing, I am running out of ideas. So, what are your preschoolers' favorite art projects? Any & all suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks!

[lauren]

My kids always loved playing with an extra bottle of shaving cream. Just clear off a table and let them go at it. Add a little food coloring for an extra treat. This can be even more fun (and easier to clean up) if done IN the tub.

Popsicle stick home building with lots of glue with a base of tin foil.

finger paints

sand in a plastic bin with little toy figures to make up stories with


puppet shows

hope this helps!

[3_opihi]

homemade playdough

making cookies

make origami animals and then play farm with them. you can even make a barn out of a cardboard box.

fill a little tub with water (or the sink)and then fill water bottles with items of different weights (coins, little figures, feathers, rocks) and guess if they will float.

make your own instruments. fill water bottles with coins for shakers, use an oatmeal box for a drum, make a guitar out of a box and some rubberbands.

grow a potato, an avocado pit, or plant an indoor herb garden

toothpicks and marshmallows

tear pictures out of magazines and glue them

build a fort

paint with potatoes

chocolate pudding fingerpainting

make paper hats

make a little book out of the funny stories or quotes they have. let them draw the pictures.

milk, food coloring, and a little drop of dish soap. check it out. its trippy


trace their bodies on butcher paper and let them decorate themselves

ok,ok...I'll stop now

[Mom4tot]

I try to give my ds some things to do at the table while I help dd with homeschooling. We put (uncooked) oatmeal in a baking pan and play construction site. Then we get spoons and other bowls for digging and pouring. He likes to drive his cars around in there.
We play with magnets, and small blocks at the table.
Any crafts with glue are a hit. And homemade or regular clay/ playdoh is alot of fun. Good luck!

[wemberly]

I use www.perpetualpreschool.com when I need new ideas. They have 'themes' with all sorts of activities to accompany each. Many are pre-fab, not very creative types of endeavors, but there are usually a few gems amongst each theme.

[jaredsmom]

We like to make tom toms (I think that's what they're called) out of 2 small paper plates, some dried peas, and a popscile stick. Ds loves to draw all over the paper plates. Then we add the peas into one plate and glue the plates together, with the popsicle stick sticking out the bottom.

We also love to put in a favorite CD and dance around the room, being as silly as we can!

One idea that I haven't tried with ds yet, is to make a float for an indoor parade. Take anything with wheel (a tiny wagon, a walker, umbrella stroller, etc) and add streamers, shapes cut out of construction paper, dolls, posters, etc (basically anything their liitles creative minds want to add). They could dress up too to match thier float. You could have someone play and insturment (the tom toms, drum, whistle, "cymbals," kazoo) and march around the room.

Have fun!

[Quillian]

What great ideas-I especially like the float idea. Here are a few we have done recently-
-tear pics out of an old ikea catalogue and paste them on a cardboard house plan.
-Fill a spray bottle with colored water and spray the snow outside.
-Cut out shapes and combine to make pictures-2 circles,rectangle and square for a truck etc. and
-napkin rings from empty paper towel role

Looking forward to more ideas.

Meg